2014
by MidKnight Rider
Summary: The year is 2014. Jack is retired, consulting for the Star Gate program, married to Sam, living in DC. Then he finds out about something she did in 2004 that seems to change everything. Jack/Sam established relationship s WIP. Tag to Fragile Balance so it helps if you saw that episode. This is a strong T - for language and mild sexual situations. Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N The year is 2014. Jack is retired from the Air Force. He and Sam are married and living together in DC.**

**(0)**

Sam heard the key in the lock of the condo's door, then the familiar footsteps. Jack was earlier than he'd said he would be and from the heaviness and quickness of those footsteps, he was on the wrong side of annoyed.

"Sam!"

"Office," she answered.

She turned from the desk with what she hoped was a calm, welcoming smile as he came in the door. He was still in his gym clothes – loose sweat shirt that proclaimed 'Property of the Air Force', gray sweat pants and his running shoes. That was unusual. He must have skipped his run around the track.

Before she could say another word, he had dropped the latest issue of Time Magazine in her lap and demanded,

"Who the hell are they?"

Sam looked at the cover and into her own eyes – if she'd been twenty nine again, without the fine lines from too much squinting at tiny bits of technology and worrying about the fate of the world. The woman on the cover had brunette hair but the resemblance was unmistakable.

The man with her was all too obviously Jack O'Neill in his early thirties – rugged good looks, dark brown hair, broad shoulders and good knees. They had been photographed back to back, from the waist up, but slanted towards the viewer. Their shoulders were pressed together. Their arms were folded in a stance of confidence and defiance. They were looking directly into the camera with shit-eating grins pulling at the lips.

The headline above their heads proclaimed _The New Wizards of Aerospace._

_Damn_, Samantha thought.

"Where did that come from?" she asked.

"You know, that's a funny story," Jack didn't sound at all like he was amused by this, "There I was all finished working out on the machines at the gym and crossing the lobby to the running track and I stop to put my foot on a chair to tie my shoes and guess what's staring back at me from the stack of magazines on the table?"

Sam winced. _Crap,_ of all the ways for him to find out.

"You know who he is," she said, slowly.

"John James O'Neil," Jack snapped, "My _clone._ Who is that with him? Please tell me you have a cousin four times removed who looks _exactly_ like you and then explain _how they know each other_!"

_Holy Hannah, he's __pissed,_ Sam thought.

"Jack," she used the quiet, reasonable tone Daniel had taught her. She was comfortable enough with him to look him directly in the eyes, but for a moment it took her breath away. After two knee replacement surgeries, hair that had bleached out to snow white and a commitment to getting back in shape, the man was still the most incredibly handsome thing she had ever seen.

Even spitting mad.

"Do not 'Jack' me," he said.

"Should I go back to 'sir'?" she countered.

That brought him up short. Sam had faced down armies of Jaffa, Replicators, Wraith and the Ori. One pissed off retired Air Force General wasn't likely to make her blink. He took a breath and let it out.

"Tell me what's going on," he said.

Sam answered him in one quickly spoken sentence.

"Ten years ago we asked Thor to reproduce Loki's cloning technique to make a clone of me."

"You did _what? Why?_ Wait! Who is '_we'_?"

"Me and Daniel," she admitted.

Jack stared at her and then grumbled a long string of expletives worthy of his military rank. When he was done he said,

"And Thor _did_ this?"

"It was my choice," Sam said, "Look they named ships after you and Daniel. I don't think Thor was any happier about the clone being on his own than we were. Partly he did it because Daniel asked and because I wanted it. Mostly he did it for you."

"And you wanted it because?" Jack began. There was hesitation in his voice now. "So there'd be somebody else around who ... "

Who knew where Jack had been, what _this _Jack was, who knew what this Jack knew, who was in the same situation. So duplicate Jack wouldn't be the only one of 'him' in the universe.

The words passed between them unspoken but understood.

"A little bit of that," Sam admitted. "Those were more Daniel's reasons."

"And your reasons?" he asked.

"Reason," she corrected, "There was only one. I love you and I believed even then that you loved me, even though I knew you were pushing me away at the time. It was a way to be together and that was something I wanted so desperately I was thinking about resigning my commission. I knew my clone would understand and want the chance to be with you."

Jack continued to stare at her. There was a little voice in his head yelling at him that he would have done exactly the same thing rather than let her be alone. He forcibly told it to shut up.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

Sam lifted one shoulder in a mild shrug. "Need to know? It wasn't your choice really. I didn't think you'd ever find out. Why are they on the cover of Time?"

"You're looking at the Co-CEOs of SJO Technologies," Jack answered.

Sam's eyes flew open. "Sam and JJ O'Neil are _us?_ I thought they were brothers!"

"Obviously not!" Jack returned.

Sam sank back in her chair and stared at the opposite wall. SJO Technologies was a very young company that had rocketed to success over the last five years. What they were doing in the fields of aerospace, flight and artificial intelligence was off the scale.

"_Jesus Christ, Sam_," Jack said, running his fingers through his hair, "How the hell did you pull off getting her into society?"

"Agent Barrett helped us, through the witness protection program. She wanted to take my –our – mother's last name so she became Samantha Pierce. After that we found her a foster family in Colorado Springs and she enrolled in the same High School. I didn't track them after that. It seemed invasive."

Jack was torn between admiration and wanting to throttle her.

"You know what you did was a massive security risk? Right?" he asked.

He got another eloquent shoulder lift in return. "So did you when you decided your clone should live. You going to tell on me?" she asked.

Jack slumped against the doorway and stared at the toes of his running shoes.

"Jack," she said, and waited for him to look at her, "I love you. I _loved you_ and it didn't look like we were ever going to be together. Fate, or Chance or Loki or _something_ handed me a chance to make that happen. You can't tell me you didn't think about it back then?"

"No," he said, bluntly, "I didn't. But I've never been as far out of the box as you and Daniel."

Sam stood up and went to him, invaded his personal space, nudged his feet apart so she could stand between them and leaned on him.

The frown between his eyebrows lessened. She stood up on tiptoe and brushed her lips against his. She let her hips press against his. He resisted and then kissed back. When they parted he said,

"You are _not_ going to distract me from this with sex."

"I'm not?" she asked, with just a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"No," he didn't sound at all sure about that.

"Jack," her voice had so much love in it his chest hurt, "I didn't even know if it would work. With every moment they lived a different life they became less and less 'you and me' and more who they would become in a different reality. They could have wound up not wanting anything to do with each other. But my Sam came into existence knowing everything I knew, knowing why I had wanted her to have a chance. She wanted this too; and look at them! They're successful, happy. They're together. Can't that be enough?"

Jack sighed. "It might have been."

Sam nuzzled his chin and then kissed her way down to the pulse at the base of his throat, sucking gently.

"Why isn't it enough?" she asked, softly.

"Because of an email I got yesterday."

"That said?"

"The military is meeting next week with SJO Technologies to see if some of our programs, including the Star Gate Program, can benefit from their work."

"Good for them," Sam said, meaning it sincerely and still trying to get his mind on other things.

"Sam," Jack said, impatiently, "What is my new position with the government?"

"Senior Consultant for the Star Gate Program."

As she said it the implication fell on her like a missile strike. She stepped back and looked up at him. He watched her 'get it.'

"Uh-huh," he said, "Next week, I have to _be_ at that meeting."

Sam swallowed, looked away, looked back and then swallowed again.

"Holy Hannah," she said.

(0)

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning – mild language, sexual situations.**

**(0)**

John James O'Neill – known to everyone since his college football days as JJ – woke with the instant realization that he was alone in the big bed. There was a breeze in the room from the open French doors. Turning over and looking that way he saw that they were both open and his wife was standing on the balcony, wrapped in a blanket. He untangled from the sheets, got up, slipped into a pair of boxers that were lying discarded on the floor and went out to join her.

She heard him coming but he had never been able to sneak up on her, not even with remembered black ops training and functioning knees. Their military training remained part of their psyche if not their present lives. He put a hand on her shoulder and said,

"Hey."

"Hey," she answered.

JJ nuzzled a little bit into her brunette hair and stepped closer. She leaned in a little bit but didn't stop staring out at the urban stars above their Sherman Oaks home.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "We just finished another eighty hour week and all those god-awful fucking Friday meetings." _Not to mention a marathon love-making session,_ he added to himself, "You're supposed to be exhausted."

"Do you ever miss it?" she asked.

JJ knew instantly what she meant. "I miss _them_," he admitted.

Sam nodded. Daniel, Teal'c, Hammond, Siler, Harriman, Janet, her Dad, _crap,_ even Lee and Felger – all the people they had walked away from. JJ had done it for the chance to live. She had done it for the chance to be with him.

"But do you miss being out there?" she insisted, nodding towards the stars.

JJ didn't answer. He stepped behind her, pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her tightly. They rarely mentioned their old lives, seldom wallowed in 'might have been.' They had thrown themselves into their new lives with the same commitment to excellence they had given their military careers.

He'd been shocked when she'd walked up to him in the hall of their High School. He knew those eyes and her hair had still been short and blond in those days; and of course when she'd given him a sly smile and said, "Hello, sir" there could be no doubt who she was.

They'd been inseparable from that moment. She'd been the inspiration he needed to quit fooling around and get the football scholarship so they could attend college together. There was a High School year book somewhere with pictures of them after being elected 'Cutest Couple'. At eighteen they'd married in a quiet ceremony at the Denver court house before moving to LA to attend UCLA. He had applied himself with due diligence to the aeronautical engineering program – intent on earning once again the master's degree he'd already gotten once in pursuit of being promoted to Major.

Sam, of course, had left him in the academic dust and by the time he had his Master's, she had her doctorate in robotics. During the rare times when they discussed their previous lives she confessed it was the second doctorate she'd always wanted and never had the time for.

It was also weird that in spite of all the sexual experience they both remembered, these bodies had lost their virginity to each other on their wedding night. He'd been unable to get beyond thinking of her as off limits until she was a legal adult. He'd been unable to think of her as really his. He'd been _really_ unable to believe she wanted _him_ and not the other guy.

The single gold band on her finger had helped. The way she'd responded to him in the room at the Denver Marriot had really helped. He could still remember what it had felt like to be inside her for the first time. He'd been so stunned by the intensity that for a long time he couldn't move and she didn't seem to want him to. When he had finally moved it hadn't taken very long for her to cry out, clench and climax. He'd been so shocked it had pulled him straight over the edge of the flight deck and out into open space.

It had lasted forever and been over far too soon, seared into their memory forever as the most intense experience of either of their lifetimes.

When his silence stretched beyond the limit of her patience she prompted him,

"Jack? Do you miss being out there?"

"No," he said.

She turned and looked at him, her expression skeptical.

"Are you thinking about them?" she asked.

There was only one 'them' the way she said it– the other Sam and Jack, the ones JJ always thought of as the poor souls who got stuck with the weight of the world and all that responsibility while they had gotten to go off together into the sunset and live out their dreams.

His arms tightened.

"I was thinking about the first time we made love," he answered.

It coaxed a short burst of laughter from her.

"Men," she teased, "One track minds. I mention being out in the stars and your thoughts went straight to sex?"

"Not straight," he protested. "There was a detour to our days in High School. Then I got thinking about the rush of walking into a wormhole out into space and _that_ made me think of making love to you."

Sam made one of those laughing noises that seemed to dismiss everything he'd just said as BS, but her body melted back against his and he knew she didn't mean it.

He bent his head so that he could nuzzle behind her ear for a moment.

"_You_ were thinking about them," he said.

Her silence was her answer. They'd argued for days about taking the meeting with the government and once they had agreed to at least go hear what they had to offer, they'd argued for days about which one of them was going to attend. The company belonged only to them. They had briefly discussed taking it public but neither of them wanted to give up control. There was no question of sending an underling or other representative. Anything involving SJO Technologies went through one or both of them.

"Neither one of them will probably be there," he went on.

"JJ," she said, turning to face him and looping her arms around his waist, "Retired General Chief of Staff Johnathan O'Neill with two l's is the Senior Civilian Consultant for the Star Gate program. Of course he'll be there."

"You're not supposed to know that," he reminded her.

"Who are you talking to?" she countered.

JJ snorted. She'd been a terror back when she'd been a teenaged computer genius. Now she was truly terrifying. He sighed and leaned his chin on top of her head.

"I'm sorry, Sam," he said. "I'm so sorry."

He felt confusion tremble through her entire body.

"For heaven's sake, why? What did you do?"

"I'm not him," he shrugged and hoped his voice didn't sound as pained as he felt. "I know it's him you want and I _can't_ be him. Maybe if I'd joined the military but it didn't seem fair to do that and ask you not to; and I'm too much of a selfish _bastard_ to have watched you join the military and not been able to do it too and they would have separated us anyway," He paused and drew a breath that made his chest hurt, "and I don't want to be separated from you _ever_, I can't be without you…"

"JJ!" She cried. She'd never been able to call him Jack, not after so many years of 'sir' and 'colonel' and 'general'. But tagging onto calling him JJ like all the kids in their High School had come kind of naturally. "Stop it. You're _you_ – the same as you've always been, just in another context. I know sometimes you think that he got to keep your life and your career and now he even has _your _Samantha…"

"No, Sam!" He cut her off.

_Christ _this had opened up a whole can of worms that he'd have just as soon kept in the back of the pantry. He bent over and buried his face in the sweet silk of her hair.

"No," he repeated, "stop. _You're _my Samantha. I loved you then and I love you even more now."

She looked more uncertain than he was. "I can let my hair go back to blond," she said.

"You can do whatever you want with your hair," he said, dismissively. "I'm not in love with your hair. I'm in love with your soul. The rest is just packaging. The fact is that you're gorgeous and every man I know envies me. But they have no idea how incredibly beautiful you really are. Thinking you might be settling for… for _me_ stead of him….sometimes that's just too much." He stopped abruptly and gulped cold night air. _Goddammit,_ what had they been drinking tonight? He remembered beer and pizza but that wasn't usually enough to make him lose control of his tongue. He'd just confessed more in the last five minutes than he had in either lifetime. Why were they even talking about this now?

Damned Air Force. Screw them anyway. Cancel the meeting….

"John James O'Neil," Sam said, firmly, "I have never _settled_ for you. I came after you. I – she…_we_ agreed to being _cloned_ to be with you – not with him, with _you_."

He dragged her forward until she was pressed all up against the whole length of him.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. I'm being an insecure jerk and you've never given me a reason for that. It's me, Sam, not you."

She'd asked him if he missed being out there. He knew she sometimes did. What he missed was the structure the Air Force had given him, the secure fences in which his irreverent attitude had felt free to roam, his achievements, his service to something he considered a greater good, the uniform (yes, even the damned dress blues) the clear goals presented by moving up in rank.

He'd given all that up to stay alive and the sweet, wonderful passionate soul that was Samantha Carter had refused to let him do that alone. He'd lost his military anchor but gained her.

And he _knew_ that was the better part of the bargain.

"I know, JJ," she said.

Her mouth sought his and it was slow and deep and passionate and he responded to it. There was a lot to be said about being thirty again and being able to bend both his knees without pain was just the start.

"And if he is there at the meeting?" JJ asked when they stopped for breath.

"Can we cross that bridge when we get to it?"

"Okay," he agreed, "It might not be him anyway. They might send Jackson if they figure out who we are."

She ran her hands down his back.

"You're freezing," she said, "Let's go back inside."

They went back to bed and took her blanket with them and Sam used it and her own body to warm him. Later when they were melted into each other and boneless he had tried to comfort her once again.

"He probably won't be there," he said, in a low, sleep-slurred voice.

"Maybe not," she answered, "Doesn't matter now. I'm here. You're here. We're together. Go to sleep."

He kissed her once more and then the slept, deeply, content and unmoving in a helix of tangled limbs.

(0)


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm making minor use of some original characters from my Daniel-centric story here. Just for background and to see how the future unfolded. Long-winded Daniel speech ahead. ;-)**

**(0)**

Jack and Sam got out of the rental car in front of the quiet house in the Colorado Springs suburb that had been Daniel's home for the last ten years. Once Jack had decided to meet with the clones he had forged ahead with typical bluntness and requested to meet them at their corporate offices in LA before the government meeting. They'd needed a layover between DC and LA and had decided to leave a few days early so they could visit Daniel and his wife, Jillian.

It was a charming place, deceptively small looking until you got inside. There was nothing unusual about it. It was a very common little house with a husband and wife and two children who kept to themselves for the most part; except that the husband and wife made their living traveling to distant planets and exploring alien cultures.

Nothing the neighbors needed to know.

"You're not really going to kill him are you?" Sam asked.

"Not right away," Jack answered, "and not in front of his family."

The front door opened and Daniel appeared him. At his side was a young boy – eight years old and exceptionally tall for his age. The last time Jack and Sam had seen JD – Johnathan Daniel Jackson - he'd been four.

"Holy Hannah," Sam said, under her breath.

"The kid is Daniel's mini-me," Jack agreed. "When you talk to him on Skype you don't get how tall he is now."

The boy's face split in a smile that was achingly familiar but more open and warm than any that had ever been coaxed from his father.

"Uncle Jack!" he said, "Aunt Sam! We didn't think you'd make it before we had to leave for school."

Unable to stop himself, Jack swept JD up into a hug and also couldn't stop the thoughts of Charlie that immediately flashed through his mind. JD was the same age now – eight – as Charlie had been when he died.

The same age Daniel had been when his parents died. He hugged JD until he squirmed and, as he put him down, Jack's eyes met Daniel's and he knew Daniel was thinking the same thoughts.

Then he was bolting up the steps and had Daniel in a quick, fierce, one-armed man-hug before passing him over to Sam. Daniel looked the same – still fit, a few more fine lines around his eyes and wearing a more fashionable style of glasses, a little gray starting to show in his hair. At that point Daniel's wife joined them – Jillian, the lovely archaeologist who seemed not only able to tolerate Daniel but genuinely love him to pieces.

There was a little girl with her, age six, with her mother's auburn hair and her father's startling light blue eyes.

"That's not Katie," Sam said, sounding shocked.

"She was two the last time you were here," Daniel said, grinning with a little pride. "They change."

"God she's beautiful," Sam breathed.

Katie – Catherine Jillian Jackson – tucked in behind her father's leg and regarded the newcomers warily. She'd never been as comfortable with internet chatting as her brother. Apparently only JD had gotten the paternal gene for incessant speed talking.

"Let's get out of the doorway," Daniel suggested and they all filed into the house out of the short entryway and into the living room.

"JD, take Katie and get your backpacks. Your ride will be here soon," Jillian said.

The kids ran off towards the bedroom wing of the house and the adults found seats on the couch and chairs arranged in a conversational grouping by the fireplace.

"You guys want something? There's coffee," Jillian said.

"Big shock," Sam said, and rolled her eyes.

"We're fine," Jack said.

"I take it he saw the cover of Time," Daniel said to Sam without any further preamble.

"Yep, he did," Jack answered, sarcastically. "I take it Jillian already knew too?"

"Yes," Jillian admitted.

Jack turned to his wife, sitting beside him on the couch. "You told _her_ and not me?"

"Actually Daniel told her," Sam said.

Jack turned the fierceness of his gaze on Daniel and held it there.

"What? She's my wife," Daniel answered, defensively, "I tell her everything."

"Well, _she's_ mine," Jack said, jerking a thumb in Sam's direction, "and _she_ never said a word!"

"Hey," Sam protested, giving Jack a mild kick in the shin, "Watch who you're calling 'she'."

Jack rolled his eyes and settled grumpily into the corner of the couch.

"Yes, dear," he said, with a slow shake of his head. Then his eyes got wider as something occurred to him. "I suppose Teal'c knows too?"

Daniel shrugged. "He figured it out himself." Pause. "But we're pretty sure he told Ishta."

Jack let that information hang in the air for a moment and then muttered something inaudible and probably unfit for mixed company under his breath.

Daniel leaned forward in his chair, put his elbows on his knees and gave Jack a long reasonable look.

"Jack," he said, "What Sam and I did was utterly against regs. She had everything to lose. I figured the worst they'd do to me was chain me to a deck and I could be just irritating enough to get back into the program. Weir was already a little intimated by me. But she'd have been court martialed. We didn't say anything to you because we didn't want you in that position. Ever."

"And you knew I'd say no," Jack guessed.

Daniel broke eye contact for a moment and then returned a calm open look and nodded, "We suspected you would no matter how you really felt about it and then we'd do it anyway and Sam would officially be disobeying a direct order and that would make it even worse."

Jack sighed, raked his fingers through his hair and said, "Fucking hell, Daniel. Couldn't you have tracked them down five years ago and suggested a nice home off world, maybe farming?"

"We had no way of knowing they'd get together and set the world of aeronautics on fire, Jack," Sam said.

"In hindsight," Daniel said, slowly, "Maybe we should have. I mean, look who we were dealing with."

They all sat in silence for a moment and then the kids came back into the room with their backpacks and Jillian got up to go to the kitchen and give them their lunches. They came back in long enough to hug Daniel and JD hugged Jack and Sam one more time.

Katie lingered by her father's knee for a moment.

"Will you be here tonight, Dad?" she asked.

"Yes," Daniel said, certainly, "and Uncle Jack and Aunt Sam are staying the night."

"Okay," she said, and then hurried to join her brother as he left for school.

There was the sound of a car horn and a rush for the doorway and Jillian calling,

"Be safe! I love you."

"Love you both!" Daniel hollered after them.

Small voices called goodbye. A car door slammed and the sound of an engine faded away. Jillian shut the door and came back into the room.

"Jack," Daniel said, "Do you remember how you were freaking out when Sam was missing on the Prometheus?"

"I was _not_ freaking out," Jack said.

Daniel pinned him with a hard stare. Jack relented. "Okay, maybe a little."

"A lot," Daniel said, unwilling to concede when he knew the truth. Then he gave Jack a slightly bemused look that said _I'm going to start talking now and you have three seconds to stop me if you don't want to hear it._

Jack spread his hands in a resigned _go ahead _gesture. Daniel took a long breath.

"Right after we finally got her back on the Prometheus we almost lost her again on Kelowna and that was just really awful for you, because, well, Kelowna will never be a comfortable subject for any of us. They'd managed to kill me once already at that point and then Sam was on some suicide mission for them and you were pissed and not just at the delegation they had sent us. I knew it. Everyone knew it. Then she started going out with Pete Shanahan and I swore at times the guy's life was hanging by a thread. I know you really wanted her to be happy and you wanted it to work out but there was a part of you that hated every minute of it and if you try to deny that I'll call you a liar to your face and in front of your wife. Then things were quiet for a little while and it seemed like you might be able to deal with Shanahan without bloodshed and then SG13's mission to 666 went FUBAR in every possible way and we lost Janet and we came too damned close to losing you too.

"Follow that up with you making the damned stupid choice to download the Ancient repository into your brain and I could see Sam's face the whole time we were at your house making you host your own wake that she couldn't bear to live in a world that didn't have you and you felt the same way about her;

"And all this time John O'Neil was out there without _anyone_ and neither of us could stand it anymore. Even with us you lived this weird kind of side by side isolation but at least you had _us._ Jack, when we first met you were on the wrong side of suicidal. Then you pulled out of it but that was the program, that was _us._ I know you wanted to stop thinking about the clone the same you wanted to forget about the androids. But we couldn't. No matter how he had come into being, John James O'Neil was still _you _and we couldn't stop thinking about him.

"As it was you wound up in stasis in Antarctica and we saved the Asgard from the Replicators and Thor was feeling especially grateful when we asked him about it. So be mad if you want. I'll even let you hit me if you want. I couldn't stop you even if I wanted to, so go ahead."

Daniel finally wound to a halt, looking a bit startled that he'd actually gotten to the end without interruption. Jack sat up a little, leaned forward and said,

"Have I called you a self-righteous, sanctimonious, annoying pain the ass?"

"Once or twice," Daniel answered and then he grinned. "A day, for eight years."

They held locked gazes for a bit and Daniel finally finished, "I wouldn't change anything we did, not a bit of it, especially considering how it turned out."

"Oh, yeah, it turned out fabulous," Jack said, slumping back again on the couch, "The US military wants to join forces with them to take over the galaxy and I'm supposed to be at the meeting," Jack said.

"So say he's a cousin," Daniel shrugged.

"Four times removed," Sam suggested.

Jack shot her a narrow look and she put her foot against his shin again but this time she just stroked it up and down affectionately.

Jack sighed, reached over and curled his fingers over her hand.

"I know you understand why we did it and why we didn't tell you," Daniel said, long past the days when he would take any crap from Jack, if those days had ever existed.

He got a noncommittal grunt and a steady glare from Jack as an answer.

"Jack, look, think about just coming clean about who they are. Once everyone gets over the shock, it's going to make the matter of issuing security clearances pretty easy. Your clone wasn't anyone's idea but Loki's and we can say Thor was responsible for Sam's. The contracts are going to be all R & D. That's not something you'd be able to bypass around Sam in any case. R & D is all her these days." Daniel stood up. "Why don't we all go get some breakfast?"

Jack looked at his watch. "Breakfast? Two hour time difference here, Daniel. We're thinking about lunch."

"We'll call it brunch and split the difference," Daniel shrugged.

As they walked out the door, Jack said, "Is the Aragon still open?"

"The Dining Hall on the Base at Peterson?" Sam sounded horrified. "Come on, Jack."

"What?" Jack said, "Is grunt food too good for you suddenly, Lt. General?"

"I could do with having lunch without dozens of Airmen saluting."

Jack thought about that for a moment.

"Good point," he said, finally.

"We can do O'Malley's," Daniel said, as he locked the front door.

There was a pause when they got to the car.

"You think they'll recognize us?" Jack asked.

Daniel thought about it a minute and then said, "Nah… not after all this time. Do you think?"

"I don't know. That's why I asked you!" Jack asked.

"Oh my god will you two just get in the car!" Sam said.

"Yes, dear," Jack said.

(0)

(0)


	4. Chapter 4

Jack maneuvered the rented SUV through the busy streets of LA and up the on ramp of the freeway. He'd been unusually quiet all morning, not using any of his normal tactics for creating a diversion away from his feelings. She had dealt with neither the sarcastic aggression nor the crazy goofball.

She was used to the aggression and normally just ignored it until he got past whatever was bothering him or she figured out what it was and helped him get past it. The crazy goofball she often didn't mind at all. He could be unbelievably silly and huggy and playful during those times, physical to the borderline of roughness and brimming over with a kind of energy that belied his six decades of life.

He could be like that even when nothing was bothering him and those were some of her favorite times.

Today he was quietly attentive, tending towards tender touches and soft glances.

It was disconcerting to say the least.

It had begun early, when she had woken before dawn to rise briefly, use the bathroom, get a drink of water and finishing by rinsing her mouth out with something green and minty in a little travel bottle.

She'd come back to bed and found Jack sleeping on his back. He was wearing a short-sleeved white cotton undershirt that had been worn and washed into shapeless comfort, rucked up his chest to reveal abs he had beaten into submission at the gym; and a pair of ancient green plaid boxers, faded, thin as air and clinging to every curve and shape that made him male. The gray pre-dawn light cast the dips and shapes of his biceps into light and shadow. The sheet was lying in a soft caress over the length and muscle of his legs.

He'd been utterly asleep – his mouth soft and jaw lax, with one arm flung casually over his head and the other stretched out where she had been sleeping. His forehead was uncreased and his lashes were a crescent accenting his closed lids.

He was absolutely stunning when he slept. How she had avoided learning this little tidbit after seven years in the field with him, Sam had no idea.

She had perched on the edge of the bed for a long time just watching him as the rising sun began to gild the room in light.

Sometimes it was truly unbelievable how much she loved this man.

She'd stripped out of her nightgown and sat there enjoying the view and waiting for him to wake up. It hadn't taken long, though she had been secretly pleased that her movements and vigil hadn't disturbed him. It was a testament to how much he trusted her, and her presence in his life, that a man with Jack O'Neill's past would remain asleep and peaceful even with someone watching him.

He'd drawn a long breath, closed his mouth, licked his lips and opened his eyes.

"Hey," he said, softly as he immediately registered her presence.

He woke up so beautifully, Sam thought, a military response of seamless transition from one state to the next with no pause for confusion or drowsiness in between. He had been unfazed to find her sitting there, waiting for him wearing nothing but morning light and a loving expression.

Everything had been wordless after that – one hand had reached out and idly stroked her knee while the other hand slipped under his waistband and pushed off the tattered boxers, legs working to help and push the sheet out of the way. He'd sat up, paused long enough to get the t-shirt off and then gathered her in his arms and pulled her back into the bed.

When they had finally left the bed she'd been feeling soft and delicious and powerfully female.

Sam was watching him again now as he eased the SUV into traffic and settled into the frantic, bumper-to-bumper chaos that was LA traffic. Jack loved to drive almost as much as he loved to fly; and he had never quite embraced the new vehicles that could talk to you and park themselves. He liked to have control over solid engineering, with his hands on the wheel and the road passing under him.

"We don't have to do this," she said, suddenly.

He gave her the only kind of glance one could give while driving in LA – short, fast and to the point.

"Yes, we do," he said, fixing his eyes back on the road.

"Not both of us," she said.

Jack took a long breath and said, "Samantha…."

To which she retorted, "Johnathan…."

He broke off, having forgotten that was her response every time he called her by her full name.

"Sometimes I miss the days when you were intimidated by me," he said.

"I was never intimidated by you," she informed him. After a pause she admitted, "I was scared to death of how I felt about you, but never by you."

Jack grunted in acknowledgement and then gave some considerable attention to changing lanes, downshifting and accelerating.

"I didn't do it to hurt you," she said, quietly. A muscle rippled in his jaw and she wondered how close to the truth she had gotten. "I did it to help you…him…You know what I mean."

"I know," he said. Then he inhaled, exhaled again and she knew he was trying to force words and feelings out of his brain and his heart and past his vocal cords. "I kind of envy him."

Sam blinked, stared and then blurted out, "Why? You got everything – your career, your reputation, your whole life. He had to make second choices, settle for other things."

The muscles in Jack's jaw rippled again and his throat work convulsively as if he was swallowing.

"Jack?"

He shot her another swift hard look. "He got _her –you!_ Every day…. for ten years. I should have given up everything else to have that. I'd give up a lot more than that now, to have it back."

Sam's throat closed over a hard, tender ache. Military discipline kept the tears from falling but not from forming. She turned and looked out the window at the cars streaming by and the LA cityscape.

Neither of them said anything else until they pulled into the parking garage in the skyscraper of corporate offices that held SJO Technologies. Jack pulled into a parking space, but didn't immediately cut the engine. It was June in LA and he let the AC run.

He turned, leaned across the front seat with his arm across the back and gently fluffed her hair with his fingertips.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Sam's wide eyes got wider. "For what?"

"For being a jerk. For getting mad. For feeling like you did something to betray me when you really didn't." Seeing her opening her mouth and inhaling, he held up a finger and said, "ATT!" the way he used to when he was cutting her off in midsentence during some off world crisis and for a moment everything was back to normal. She smiled a little. He went on, "For putting everything and every_one_ ahead of you for twelve years."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!

"No, you didn't"

"I left SG1."

"To take command of the Star Gate Program."

"Turned command of the SGC over to Landry and left you…"

"To have knee surgery!"

"I arranged for you to head up R & D at Area 51 instead of bringing you to DC with me…"

"Because that's what I said I wanted when you asked me!"

"I sent you to Atlantis! I sent you so far away you were in another _galaxy!"_

"For my career!"

"Which I put ahead of wanting you so badly I couldn't breathe the whole time you were gone!"

"You seem to have survived," she finished drily.

"Who taught you to be such a smartass?" She opened her mouth and he cut her off abruptly, "Wait! Don't answer that."

"I was going to say from my father," she answered anyway. She tilted her head and smiled a little wistfully.

Jack's eyebrows knitted closely for a moment, and his eyes roamed her face to fit an emotion to her expression. Sam's smile remained and she ran her hand up his arm to settle on his shoulders, squeezing through the layers of suit jacket and dress shirt. They'd worn civilian clothes. No sense scaring the SJO minions. No sense reminding the clones what they had given up.

"Always did like your father," he said, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

Sam leaned on him for a moment longer.

"You're sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"Yes."

"The way they set it up?"

Sam and Jack had been given separate appointment times, for no good reason that they could fathom. It had been nonnegotiable. It had been final.

It had been way too much like something they would do. Divide and conquer

"Doesn't make me happy but yes," Jack answered.

"Hey," she reminded him, "You're the one who gave up the home court advantage."

"You and I are best on the road," he answered. "Away games are our specialty."

Jack stopped fluffing at her hair and traced a line along her jaw until his fingers were holding her chin. He tipped her head up, gently but firmly, until their eyes met.

"They're not us," he said. "Not really. Not anymore. We'll be fine."

Sam let herself be awed by how he made her feel completely safe and confident, with a single look, with a simple series of half-sentences.

"I know we will," she said.

(0)


	5. Chapter 5

Sam stuck her head in his office door without knocking.

"Are you ready? They're here," she said, even as she saw that he was so not ready.

He had his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his suit coat over the back of his chair and his tie was completely undone and slung around his neck.

"JJ," she said, with a note of exasperation.

JJ O'Neil picked up the tiny clock on his desk and studied it. The clock itself was pretty small, digital and had been pressed into the center of a trout that was gripped between the claws of a bronze eagle, wings outspread. His staff had given it to him for his birthday.

"We know how much you love flying and fishing, sir," his Executive Assistant had gushed.

"Thank you! I _love_ it," he had told them, "I have _always_ wanted someone to immortalize that special moment when an eagle captures a fish that had just swallowed a baby clock."

One of the clerks had piped up helpfully, "You can also use it as a paperweight."

"Oh you're right!" JJ had said, "And that's _great_ because when the wind blows through this office, I tell ya, it can go gale force. So truly, thank you. Thank you all."

Sam came into the room, interrupting his thoughts.

"The batteries must be dying. This says its only 10:15," he observed.

JJ put it down gently. Poor little clock was traumatized enough. He stood up and started fooling with his tie. She stepped up to him and pushed his hands out of the way.

"Here let me, before your Executive Assistant comes in here and tries to do it," she said.

JJ couldn't quite stop the lopsided, goofy grin. His current EA was a twenty-something intern who spent half her time making and canceling JJ's appointments and the rest of it salivating over his butt. It hadn't escaped Sam's notice. He kept the intern partly to annoy Sam and partly because she knew that's what he was doing and always seemed on the verge of giving it away by suddenly laughing out loud.

There were few people in this or any other galaxy she trusted as she trusted him.

He rolled his shirt sleeves down and fastened them as she effortlessly and efficiently tied a perfect Windsor knot. Before he put his suit coat on he took advantage of her closeness and wrapped both arms around her. She resisted for a moment. They were careful with physical displays of affection at the office – set a good example, yada yada – even in the privacy of the office. But he tightened up and she gave in.

"Have the minions seen them?"

"Yes."

"Any reaction?"

"None I could detect. Still want to do this separately?" she asked.

"It's Plan A, right?"

"Yes?"

"Do we have a Plan B?"

"Not really, why?"

"Because Plan A always worked out _so_ well as I remember it."

Sam laughed, hugged him but this time when she squirmed he let her go. His mood was exactly what she had expected for today. Ten on the tomfoolery scale with a side of dopey sarcasm.

He'd had trouble sleeping the night before and she had finally left him watching TV with the sound turned off and flipping through the sports channels. But he had been beside her when she woke at 4am – just before their alarm was going to go off at 4:30. JJ's sigh of contentment had been genuine when she had rolled over and molded her body to his, settled into warmth and intimacy and a few moments of undisturbed privacy before they had to get up and face a long day filled with extra stress. JJ's arms had been heavy with sleep. His limbs had draped possessively over her and he'd made a few more drowsy, happy sounds before falling back to sleep.

Sam stayed in his arms, completely content and realizing how blessed she was to have been freed from dragging around the fate of the planet; and how much she _loved _this and how much she loved him.

The alarm happened much too early. Several hundred sit-ups and push-ups and more than a few miles on the treadmill and they had showered, dressed, started coffee, eaten breakfast standing up at the bar in the kitchen. As they had rinsed dishes and coffee mugs JJ had come up behind her, put his hands on her hips and pressed several lingering, grateful kisses on the back of her neck.

The memory made her shiver and wish they hadn't been running late.

"You want another round of rock-paper-scissors?" she asked.

"No, unless you do. Sam the First at least knew you existed; and Jack knows about me. We have no way of knowing if she ever told him."

"No this is fine," she said, offering calm and certainty in the tone of her voice.

JJ put a hand on the back of her head and pulled her in close again.

"I love you," he said.

In their previous lives those words had been impossible, complicated. Full of meaning and promises they had never been free to make. As JJ had once said, it seemed hard to believe that love as strong as theirs had been guaranteed to tick off America the Beautiful and they'd had to watch every nuance of body language in the name of God and country.

He pulled back for a moment as he realized something.

"You _want_ to talk to him first," he said. There was accusation and confusion in his expression.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Damn it, Sam," he said, "If I didn't know better I'd swear you rigged it to win rock/paper/scissors."

When she didn't answer and instead looked away with more than a little guilt he burst out, "How? How do you rig rock/paper/scissors?"

She tilted her head back and forth a few times and then said, "You have a 'tell'."

"I do not," he said, firmly.

"Yeah, you do," she said.

He glared at her for a moment and then shook his head. That wasn't really the issue he wanted on the table at the moment.

"Why do you need to see O'Neill first?"

"Because you didn't choose this and neither did he."

JJ's brow furrowed in a frown. "The government contacted us. O'Neill wanted to come here."

"Not the meetings!" she sounded impatient but she was trying to talk about feelings and he was using his feigned clueless act to deflect it. "This! Us. What we are. You didn't choose to be created or for Loki to miss the right buttons on the Xerox and make you start all over again from childhood."

"Teenaged- hood," he said, "Is that a word?"

"JJ," she hadn't lost any of the impatience, "You were about to turn 50 at the time. Suddenly being in High School again is _childhood."_

"Is that how you felt? Like you were slammed back into childhood?"

"I was prepared for it. I wanted it. I _chose _it. I need to make sure that Jack -O'Neill - understands that."

Jack's frown went from puzzled to skeptical without skipping a beat.

"That's the only reason?" he asked.

"Honestly?"

"Isn't that what we've always tried to give each other?"

Sam took a deep breath. "It's the only reason I'd like to see him first and alone; but if you're asking me about my feelings…. JJ, I love you and only you. But I admit it's going to be impossible to be in the same room with him and not remember. Don't tell me you aren't worried about the same thing."

"A little," he said. He paused. God knows he had tried hard to be more open with her, to _talk_ even though he'd rather gnaw his own arm off than do that. "When I found out I was a clone and dying, I really only had one thought – that I would never have you."

"Jay…Jack," she exhaled.

He rushed on. "That he would have you, but I never would. That I would die without ever …ever… you know; and even if I tried to talk you into it back then, I was a _kid_. Then even when Thor fixed it and I knew I was going to live… you became one more thing I lost. Sarah, Charlie, now my career, my life, my history… But you were the worst. As long as we were together there was hope. But we weren't together. You were with him and always would be or so I thought and then you walked into my school and it was like a miracle…."

"Jack!" she cut him off, "You're starting to sound like _Daniel!"_

He stopped and blew out a long ragged breath. He took her by the shoulders and put enough distance between them that he could look her in the eyes. As much as the piercing look said, it didn't say enough.

"When I think about losing you I. Can't. _Breathe."_

Sam took a step closer and put her hand on his jaw.

"Jack." It was just a breath, an exhalation with everything else unsaid. All of her love and everything they have ever shared, all seven years and the ten years since then that belong only to them, expressed in one syllable that _is_ his name.

She reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to meet hers with force, with energy and promise and desperation.

And something else that neither of them can voice.

But it doesn't matter because the _only_ thing that matters right now is that he _knows_; that he believes that all along it has been him and only him.

(0)


	6. Chapter 6

She hated that she hesitated before opening the door of the small conference room. She was braver than this, stronger than this. She took hold of the handle, gave it a determined twist and walked into the room.

It was like time traveling again – forward this time instead of back. She almost faltered but shut the heavy mahogany door behind her with a decisive click.

She'd been expecting the dress blues, and all the accompanying medals and ribbons, stars and bars; and the devastating effect those could have. She had been determined not to be intimidated, or to have that rush in her bloodstream that had always accompanied the vision of Jack in his dress blues.

Something about the black suit, white shirt and red, white and blue striped tie was even more disconcerting. He was still tall, broad-shouldered and had somehow not thickened the way other generals tended to when assigned to ride a desk. The snow-white hair was still thick and military-proper.

His eyes were surrounded by more lines than JJ's but they were unmistakably the same dark, fathomless eyes.

When she stood there frozen and unable to speak he said,

"Nice hair."

Sam continued to stare at him as if he were the ghost of some future she hadn't begun to imagine.

"I'm not sure why I thought this would be easier," she said finally. "I thought I'd come in and just say 'hello, sir' and it would be fine."

"I've been trying to figure out _what_ to call you," he said, "Carter's out, from what I understand. Mrs. O'Neil, with one L?"

_Carter_. She remembered when he had called her that. _How_ he had called her that – sometimes harshly, sometimes in that pissed off voice that somehow only he knew how to manage. Eventually it had become an endearment, just like all the layers and subtleties of 'sir.'

All the little things that had said he loved her. All the things that had made her choose to be cloned and to live another life.

"It's Doctor actually. Doctor O'Neil with one L."

""Oh yeah, the robotics thing," Jack nodded, "Seems to have worked out well for ya."

"You could say that," she said, "But really, 'Sam' is fine. It might get confusing later but it will work for right now."

Jack swept her with another closed, measuring look. He wasn't sure how he was going to be able to call her Sam. She gave him back the same look.

"You look good," she commented.

"Well you know," his voice went into that emotion deflecting sing-song she knew so well. Jack's ability to play the fool and still be the most alert and judicious person present has always been one of his greatest strengths, "Tried another round of knee surgery, finally had them both replaced, put on some surgery weight for a while and the rehab was a bitch. But Carter gave me some pretty strong incentive to get on my feet and back in shape."

Her eye brows went up and disappeared under her chestnut colored bangs. He recognized the question in it and considered whether or not to answer it. He relented.

"She promised to marry me when I could walk her down the aisle and dance with her at the reception."

A smile flickered across her face and touched briefly in her eyes. Well that explained the physique that was still military sharp.

Jack studied the young woman who was the mirror image of the one he loved and wondered how different they had become when their lives diverged ten years ago. His Sam was now an Air Force General, only the second woman in history to be promoted to 3-star. He had understood and completely supported her decision to stay in the military. While he had been more than willing to let it go after giving it five decades of his life, Sam had been less enthusiastic about surrendering her commission. His Sam was still something ethereal and other-worldly, something he still often felt was out of his league. She had spent too much time living in a place where her allies walked through walls and her enemies could destroy planets with a thought. Jack had known how hard it would be for her to limit herself to a world in which Heisenberg physics ruled would suddenly feel very limiting.

He'd willingly surrendered his alpha male status and agreed to go wherever she wanted.

_His_ Lt. General Samantha Carter-O'Neill was a marvel with technology, an astrophysical genius, a command prodigy (and an occasional destroyer of suns), his wife, his lover and his soul mate. She had learned to find balance in her work and her life outside it.

He had no idea who Dr. Samantha Pierce-O'Neil was. For some reason that was almost a relief. He wondered for a moment how this Sam and her John O'Neil had hashed out all the decisions about where to live and what to drive and who took out the recycling. He wondered if they had the same disagreements he had with his Sam about what constituted a 'clean' house and mint versus cinnamon toothpaste.

"How long did it take you to forgive her for what she did?" Sam with hair the color of cream-splashed coffee asked.

The question took him off guard for just a moment. No one would have noticed except someone who knew him very well. He saw the realization light on her face.

"She never told you," Sam said, sounding a little breathless. "At least not at first. When did you find out?"

He almost rocked on his heels and stopped.

"Picked up a copy of last week's Time Magazine," he said, lightly.

This Sam stared at him for a moment and then said, "Holy crap…. Wow….I…. I can't even imagine. I… I tell everything to JJ."

If Jack had needed another reminder that his clone was not him, it came in the form of the nickname. No one would ever have gotten away with calling him that and certainly not twice.

"Your situation is a little different," Jack said.

Her head tilted and he got caught in the shrewd look that was often inspired by her over functional brain cells.

"She never told you because you would have had us followed; and as far as I've been able to tell we've never been under any kind of government surveillance."

She paused and lifted her eyebrows again.

"Didn't ask her," Jack shrugged. "I know I never authorized anyone to track the clone and I had the entire record shredded as soon as I had the authority to do it. So I'm not sure why she didn't tell me. I think she may have been protecting Daniel. It doesn't matter. It's done."

She frowned and he knew it was his use of 'the clone'. Daniel had been right in a lot of ways – he _had_ wanted to forget the existence of someone who had once had his life and then lost it all.

"But you've forgiven her?" she insisted.

"Instantly," Jack said, with a hint of the lopsided grin that tugged at her heart, "But don't tell her."

He watched as she swallowed tears and a smile. But she had either gotten the answer she had wanted or decided not to pursue it because she abruptly changed the subject.

"How is Daniel?"

"He's fine. Married. Two kids. Busier than we were before. Planets to visit, treaties to secure, all those addresses to explore and _lots _of really old stuff with weird inscriptions on them to keep him happy."

"Teal'c?"

"Living on Chulak again, with Ishta, when he's not running around with SG1. They have a daughter."

"Really?" That surprised her.

"Yes. He wanted to name her Sha're but Daniel said no. He said it meant 'daughter of Ra' and he didn't think that was right for one of the first Jaffa children born into freedom."

Sam nodded, her expression agreeing with Daniel. "So what did they name her?"

"Da'kara."

She frowned again and Jack realized she had no idea what Dakara was or what it had meant to the Jaffa to reclaim in. It had happened after the paths of their lives had forked. It also meant they had been pretty successful in keeping SGC records sealed.

Or this Sam had never bothered to hack that far into the records.

"It's a place that was sacred to the Jaffa," he explained.

"Ah," she said, "That's good then."

They regarded each other for a short while.

"So is this a deal breaker?" she asked, finally.

"What?"

"Will the government still want contracts with a company that's being run by the clones of two of SG1's golden children?"

"Should it?" Jack demanded.

"No," she shot back.

Jack swept her with another speculative look. "Then it might be easier to proceed if we're all in the same room."

She considered that for a moment and then went to hit the intercom on the wall.

"JJ?"

"Yep."

It was Jack's own voice, deeper, younger but he recognized it. Jack watches as her face relaxes into an easier expression at the sound of that voice and for the first time he sees a genuine happiness in her eyes.

He remembered his Sam telling him: _They're successful, happy. They're together. Can't that be enough?..._

Maybe it could be.

"Are you ready for us?"

There was a pause and Jack could imagine that Jack checking with his Sam. Then he said, "Ready when you are."

"We'll be right there, "Sam said.

(0)

**A/N: I wanted to take a moment to give recognition to the first women in the US Air Force to attain the rank of General:**

**The First Women to attain One Star Rank: **

**Army - Brig. General Elizabeth - 1970 **

**Navy - Rear Admiral Fran McKee - 1976 **

**Marines - Brig. General Margaret A. Brewer - 1978 **

**Air Force - Brig. General Jeanne M. Holm – 1971. General Holm was also the first woman to wear two stars after her promotion to Major General in 1973. **

**Air Force Nurse Corps - Brig. General E. Ann Hoefly attained the rank of 1 star General in 1972 **

**Lt. General Leslie F. Kenne, U.S. Air Force was promoted to 3-star rank in 1999.**


	7. Chapter 7

John James O'Neil took a brief moment to wish that he had asked for Samantha Carter-O'Neill to just come to his office instead of their largest meeting room. It was usually reserved for staff meetings and office parties. It had a 'homey' feel, imitating the 'country lodge' feeling of their lobby – stone fireplace, faux beam ceilings, leather chairs and a huge mahogany slab table. He hoped that might make up for its size.

He forgot all about the room as soon as he opened the door and found Sam Carter standing by the window, wreathed in filtered sunlight. She was wearing a pale blue dress with a black jacket over it, simple shoes, very little makeup; and a diamond engagement ring complimented by an expansive platinum band. He thought of his Sam's simple gold band that had taken several months to save for, the one she still wore and wouldn't let him replace. In fact, the last time they'd had a conversation about it – after the Cessna contract deal had been signed – Sam had asked him for a plane instead.

He'd gotten her the first Cessna Citation Mustang to roll off the line with their updated systems installed.

But then this Sam smiled, so much like his Sam's smile and so full of affectionate amusement it sent a welcome rush of warmth through him. He quirked a half-smile back at her.

"Would it be out of line for me to give you a hug?" he asked.

She opened her hands in a gesture of _why not._ He stepped forward and let his arms close around her delicately.

"You're taller than I remember," Sam said.

"I should hope so!" he answered.

They both laughed a little, breathless.

He held her for a moment longer with his arms around her shoulders and her arms linked loosely around her waist and he was utterly filled suddenly with the realization that this was not _his_ Sam. This was Carter. The one who had been his 21C for seven years and been totally off limits and somehow now really was different from the Sam who had shared his life since he'd been forced to walk away from the old one.

This was _that_ Sam; and in the moment between putting his arms around her and stepping back to let her go the friendship they could have (_would have?)_ clicked into place.

He indicated the table and they took seats, him at the head and she in the chair to his left.

He held her eyes for a moment with a piercing dark gaze, "I tried to email you once but it was blocked. I figured they must have made you all change your email addresses again."

"Yeah," she agreed.

"I wanted to thank you," he blurted it out as if he had been holding it in for too long. He looked for a moment as if he had jumped into the water and discovered it was colder than he expected it to be. He took a deep breath and went on, "For doing what you did, to make sure I wasn't alone. I always figured you must have gotten into a shit load of trouble for it. I'm kind of glad to see you survived with your head and career intact."

Her eyes slid away from him for a moment. "No one ever found out," she answered, "Until you two showed up on Time Magazine the only ones who knew were you and ..and Sam…. And me and Daniel."

He couldn't quite find his voice. When he stared at her in slack-jawed amazement she hurriedly added, "And Agent Barrett and Thor, I guess."

"_Jesus,"_ JJ said, finally, "I thought I was the one with black ops training."

"It wasn't that hard," she shrugged, "Jack was…."

"In stasis, she told me," JJ interrupted, "She knew everything you knew up until that point. The whole Repository thing. Sam hacked into as many government files as she could until we found out he was alive. We were both glad. She was glad…for you." He looked at her pointedly. "You finally got him to come to his senses and retire."

"There were…_many_ complications along the way, but yeah, finally," she said, "There were rewards, too, that offset the wait. But it was hard."

She had been watching him closely when he was telling her how much he already knew. She wondered if Jack had ever looked that young. JJ was younger now than Jack had been when they had met and he'd been spared a desert war under a merciless sun. In the dark suit and tie he looked exactly like what he now was – a dynamic and incredibly successful California businessman.

"He was mad when he found out," JJ said.

Sam blinked at him but of course he would know. When she didn't say anything he went on.

"He thought you did something behind his back, put yourselves at risk, put the program at risk."

"No sense disagreeing. "Yes," she admitted. She leaned forward, "Can I ask you something? Because… with my Jack, I mean he'd never allow it in a million years…"

"JJ?" he guessed.

"Yes," she exhaled.

JJ shrugged. "It started in High School. Some guys in gym class trying to get under my skin. I wasn't sure what to do about it, then it became like that first pilot call sign they give you? The one you hate but have to live with?"

Sam nodded. She truly _had _hated hers. Jack had tried to wheedle it out of her for years until she had finally cracked and told him on their honeymoon. She realized this version of Jack didn't know what it was.

But she knew his.

"Then it stuck," JJ continued, "in college playing football, mostly thanks to the announcer. The next thing I knew even Sam was calling me that and it became the second call sign the one you really do like. So I let it go."

"Viking," Sam said and had the extreme satisfaction of seeing him blink. "Your second call sign was Viking, because there was already a guy in the squad they called Minnesota, and they had to rearrange the cockpit of the jet for your height."

"He told you?" JJ asked.

"I tracked down some of the guys in his squadron and they told me."

JJ's eye narrowed. "They tell you his first one?"

Sam's eyes danced with mischief. "Yep," she said.

JJ closed his eyes, shook his head and said, "Damn."

"It's okay. We swore each other to secrecy," Sam said.

The intercom on the wall buzzed and JJ got up.

"JJ?"

"Yep?"

"Are you ready for us?"

JJ looked back at Carter and got a shrug and a nod in reply. "Ready when you are."

"We'll be right there, "Sam said.

(0)


	8. Chapter 8

Six weeks later…..

"You know," Daniel said, as they slid into the largest horseshoe-shaped booth that O'Malley's had to offer, "There's a joke in here somewhere."

Moving closer to the center, JJ quipped, "Four humans, two clones and two aliens walk into a bar?"

"Oh god," both Sams groaned at the same time and then they giggled.

Jack paused in the act of settling in so that he could still see the game on the big screen TV over the bar and said, "Stop that!"

Daniel rolled his eyes and said, "Something like that, yes."

"I'll work on a punch line," JJ said, stopping in the middle of the U, where he could see the TV perfectly. His Sam (whom they had all taken to calling Samantha) sat down next to him, with Daniel and Jillian next to her.

Opposite Daniel and Jillian were Teal'c and Ishta, next to Jack. The Jaffa were wearing 'civvies', having long ago learned to adapt to their adopted culture. Teal'c had a camo bandana wrapped around his head. Ishta had her long blond hair in a ponytail with a leather headband around her forehead.

Sam found herself in between both Jacks. But she had a great view of the game, which was Kings vs Avalanche.

The bets were placed before the food was ordered, but not before the drinks.

"Who's driving?" JJ asked.

"Who _always_ drives?" Sam countered.

All eyes turned to Teal'c, who gave them the sardonically raised eyebrow. Only Daniel paused long enough to look at Jillian and get a nod. They had come in her truck because she didn't like to drive the jeep and she preferred Diet Coke. They ordered Coors, diet cokes and water and settled back to watch the game for a bit.

Perhaps it was nearly two decades of what had come out of Cheyenne Mountain, but Daniel had been right. Coming clean about who JJ and Samantha O'Neill were hadn't caused the breakdown in the governmental space/time continuum that Jack had feared. After some initial stares at the first meetings everyone seemed to have gotten over it.

There had been one awkward moment at a cocktail party when a Senator's wife had asked if JJ was Jacks son. There had been a brief silence. Jack and JJ had locked eyes for a wordless conversation and Jack had finally said, "Distant cousin."

Everything had simply moved forward after that.

An hour and three rounds of drinks later, they're all relaxed and maybe a little loud. JJ had his arm around Samantha's shoulders and she was settled into the niche created by his body. Jillian was similarly snugged up against Daniel. Jack had his arm on the back of the booth behind Sam with his fingertips resting on her shoulder, leaning over now and then to steal her French fries. During one such attempt Sam smacked is wrist.

"Stop that!" she said.

"What?" Jack asked, all innocence.

"Why didn't you just get your own?" Sam demanded.

"Because I wanted a baked potato and you always get fries," Jack said, as if his patience was being tried. He pointed at Daniel and JJ, "They're doing it too."

Daniel and JJ managed to look guilty, especially Daniel who had his hand half way to Jillian's plate.

"Teal'c's not!" Sam said.

Ishta spoke up in a positively throaty purr. "That's because he doesn't want to find a fork stuck in the back of his hand."

Teal'c's grin was positively feral. "Indeed," he rumbled.

JJ gaped at Teal'c for a moment and then burst out, "_God_ I missed that!"

Jack snagged two more French fries and Sam took a minute to get the attention of their server. When he got there she said,

"Can we have two more…."

"Three," JJ suggested.

Sam shook her head ruefully. "Can we get three more orders of fries?"

"And another round of drinks," Jack said, glancing around the table and getting nods of agreement.

Daniel scooped up the last of Jillian's fries and settled back. She twisted her head to glare at him and he paused with them almost to his mouth and said, "What? We're getting more."

She opened her mouth and inhaled to reply was prevented from saying anything when her phone chimed.

"That's Dad," she said, scrolling it open to her messages.

No one missed the way Daniel tensed up. "They okay?"

Jillian's smile was positively mushy. "They're asleep."

She tilted the phone so Daniel could see the photo her Dad had sent and Daniel got misty.

"Well share," Jack said and the phone got passed around the table to a chorus of 'ahhhh'.

When Jillian put the phone away, Daniel asked Teal'c,

"How's Da'Kara?"

"She is well," Teal'c intoned.

JJ and Samantha both snorted with laughter, clearly loving being back with all of them again.

The orders of fries and drinks arrived. Daniel kept a steady glare on Teal'c the entire time everything was being put on the table and the empties cleared away. Teal'c returned it with all the steadiness of Rushmore. Ishta finally spoke up,

"She has grown tall," she leaned a little closer to Teal'c, letting her forearm rest on his. "She has her father's heart; and his courage."

Teal'c seemed to roll his eyes, even though he didn't really, "And her mother's passion."

The look that passed between them was downright misty for Jaffa.

"We're having a pool party for Katie's birthday in July. Please tell us you'll bring her?" Jillian asked.

Teal'c bowed his head, "It would be an honor."

"We'd love to have all of you come out to California, too," Samantha said, "Bring your families." She looked at Jack and Sam, "I know you're both coming out in a few weeks to tour the Pasadena plant. Maybe you could all come?"

Jillian looked up at Daniel again. "We could take JD out whale watching," she said, "He would _love_ that."

"Whales?" Jack asked.

Daniel shook his head indulgently, swallowed from the bottle of Coors in front of him and said, "My son has a passion for whales suddenly and tells me he wants to be a marine biologist," He looked at JJ and Samantha and said, "We'd really love that. Thank you."

"We'll have to take Katie to Disneyland," Jillian said.

"Or hear about it for the rest of our lives," Daniel sighed.

"Big Mickey Mouse fan?" JJ guessed.

"No," Daniel sighed more heavily, "The Princesses. My first grader can read at a fourth grader level and is already doing multiplication but she has an absolute obsession with Disney princesses."

"How bad?" Samantha asked.

"She wears her yellow Belle dress when we go to the park," Daniel said.

Both Sams said, "Ahhh."

"Daniel can name them all," Jillian said, grinning at him.

"No," Jack said, with exaggerated horror.

"Oh yes," he admitted, "I've been known to lie on the floor and do Disney coloring books while she shares her encyclopedic knowledge of each and every one of them."

"So let's hear them," Jack said.

Daniel took a deep breath and launched into his speed talking.

"Snow White Cinderella Aurora, also known as Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, not sure why she's considered a princess but take it up with Disney, Rapunzel, Pocahontas, not sure why she's in there either along with Alice, Tiana. Then there's Belle who was born a commoner but Katie assures me that Belle marries Prince Adam after the credits roll so she gets to be a princess. Merida. Katie adores Merida. Redhaired, Scottish spitfire. I can't imagine what the attraction is."

Daniel wound to the end with an eyeroll and found the entire table cracking up. Well Ishta and Teal'c were smiling with contained amusement, which amounted to cracking up for Jaffa.

Another round of drinks and Daniel's tongue was even looser. He started retelling the stories of their adventures, all beginning with "Remember that time…." And soon enough they were all chiming in to correct his details. It seemed impossible to tell any story that they all didn't have their own versions of, and they were constrained about details considering their public location. At one point they'd had to substitute the words 'french fries' for the Goa'uld.

Daniel shifted into the tale of how Jack had marched into the Nicaraguan jungle and singlehandedly rescued him. Jack sat back and drained the Coors out of his bottle and glanced around the table. Suddenly he was so very fiercely fond of all these people – _all of them_ – that he was on the verge of just blurting it out.

Sensing something Sam turned enough to look up at him. She found him wearing a bemused smile and something like genuine happiness in his eyes. She smiled back at him as if she couldn't help it and Jack moved his arm from the back of the booth to rest on her shoulders. He pulled her closer.

Jack signaled their waiter again and said, "That's so _not _what happened, Daniel. Shut up for a second and let me tell it."

He settled back and Sam snuggled closer and Jack began, "First of all, it wasn't singlehandedly…."

_Finis_


End file.
